(Photo by Gage Skidmore; from Wikimedia Commons)
In what is undoubtedly the most surprising and controversial Cabinet selection made this week, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Panhandle-area Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general in his new administration.
“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump said in a written statement.
“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System. Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
Gaetz replied on X, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”
If he is confirmed by the Senate, Gaetz will succeed Attorney General Merrick Garland, who led the Department of Justice as it carried out a sex-trafficking investigation into the congressman.
That investigation ended with no charges filed in February 2023, but the Northwest Florida Republican continues to be investigated by the House Committee on Ethics regarding allegations he may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use.
In June the Committee released a statement acknowledging that while Gaetz has categorically denied all of the allegations before the committee, the panel “has spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents in this matter. Based on its review to date, the Committee has determined that certain of the allegations merit continued review.”
The 42-year-old lawmaker irked many fellow Republicans in Washington when in October 2023 he filed the first motion to remove then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position. He was successful, plunging the GOP conference into chaos before the body finally selected Louisiana U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson to succeed him as House Speaker.
The reaction to Gaetz nomination was greeted with shock in some quarters.
The Florida Democratic Party issued a press release commenting on Trump’s would be “extreme Florida Man Cabinet.
“This is what it looks like to Make America Florida — and it’s a living nightmare,” said party Chair Nikki Fried.
“Donald Trump is raiding our state for any Florida Man loyal to him, no matter how incompetent, unqualified, or extreme they may be. Tapping Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor is a serious cause for concern, but nominating Matt Gaetz as Attorney General is beyond catastrophic for the country,” she continued.
“Matt Gaetz is a chaos agent who cares about nothing but his own personal power. He’s spent his eight years in Congress trying to burn our institutions to the ground — bringing us to the brink of multiple government shutdowns and constitutional crises along the way. As one of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants, he can’t be trusted to fairly and impartially run the Department of Justice, and I’m hopeful that the few remaining Senate Republicans who believe in our democracy will have the integrity to block this nomination.”
Electoral success
Gaetz has served in public office representing Northwest Florida for the past 14 years, starting as a 26-year-old in the Florida House of Representatives in 2010, when he won a special election. He served there until 2016, when he entered the race for the open Congressional District 1 seat.
Gaetz crushed his Democratic opponents in every congressional election he’s been in, including last week, when he defeated Gay Valimont by a 66%-34% margin. He had been rumored to be considering a run for governor in 2026.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Gov. Ron DeSantis will need to select a date for a primary and general election to succeed Gaetz in the First District, considered the most politically conservative of any in the state.
Lawmakers taken aback
Senators on Capitol Hill, who will have to vet and possibly vote to confirm Gaetz, expressed surprise at Trump’s announcement.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that she expected to consider another option at some point.
“I don’t think he’s a serious nomination for the attorney general,” Murkowski said. “We need to have a serious attorney general and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she was shocked when she heard the news. She said that she and her colleagues will want to question Gaetz.
“Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes. But I’m certain that there will be a lot of questions,” Collins, a Republican, said.
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he doesn’t know Gaetz “other than his public persona,” but said Gaetz will face questions and possibly challenges getting the votes needed for Senate confirmation.
“I’m sure we’ll have a lot of questions, and I’m sure all that stuff will come out,” Cornyn said. “And then it’s a question of, can he get 51 votes?”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said that Republicans were the ones to question about whether they’d support Gaetz’s nomination, since Democrats were unlikely to do so.
“Talk to my colleagues, like, to see who’s gonna vote for, like, a jerk-off like that,” Fetterman said.
Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said Gaetz “has his work cut out for him,” and that it will be up to the Judiciary Committee to decide whether to confirm him to the post.
Support from Rubio
Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, who Trump on Wednesday nominated as secretary of State, said that he was supportive of the president-elect’s pick.
“I’ve known Matt for a long time, I think he would do a good job,” Rubio said, adding that he wouldn’t comment further about the recent ethics complaints against Gaetz.
Democrats who sit on the Judiciary Committee that would be tasked with holding a nomination hearing for Gaetz, such as Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, declined to comment on the news.
“I’m literally just walking out of a meeting and hearing this,” Booker said. “Give me a minute.”
Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson said he honestly doesn’t “know (Gaetz) that well or know his professional qualifications.”
“I know of his skill in questioning witnesses in the House,” Johnson said. “I really don’t know his legal background that much. I’ve never really spent much time with him, other than a couple times in different meetings, so I just don’t know him that well.”
This story has been updated to include reaction from Washington. Ashley Murray, Ariana Figueroa, Shauneen Miranda and Jennifer Shutt in States Newsroom’s D.C. bureau contributed to this report.
This story is courtesy of Florida Phoenix.
Florida Phoenix is a nonprofit news site, free of advertising and free to readers, covering state government and politics with a staff of five journalists located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
